Snap to It

So, if you took a look at yesterday’s tip, you probably noticed the “Snap to” section at the top of the Grids and Guides window. (Ctrl + G or View menu, Grid and Guides choice).

Some of you may have been wondering what that was all about and I’d have to say that it’s a very good question. In response, I thought today might be a good day to take a look at what MS Office is talking about when it “snaps to.”

The first item, snap objects to grid, will “automatically align objects with horizontal and vertical gridlines on the slide.”

Ever find that when you’re relocating objects, they seem to “jump” to some mysterious pre-determined location instead of sitting exactly where you placed it? Well, this option is behind the jump. With this option set, the program is “snapping” the object to the nearest location in the invisible grid. This happens whether you display the grid or not. You don’t need to see the grid in order for this feature to work.

An extra trick with this one is that you can turn it on or off temporarily by pressing the Alt key while you drag or draw an object. You’ll find that the object stops “jumping” as you move it (it’s most apparent when moving objects slowly) and it is willing to go anywhere you desire.

Now, on to the second “Snap to” feature: Snap objects to other objects.

This feature will “automatically align objects with invisible gridlines that go through the vertical and horizontal edges of other objects.”

While the snap to grid can help keep your object placement neat and tidy, this feature is something that can help when you must place and align several items.

You should also know that PowerPoint isn’t the only program with the “snap to” options. You’ll also find the snap to grid option with drawing tools in other MS Office programs such as Word and Excel.